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Not relying solely on the draft, the Carolina Panthers improved their wide receiver room. And perhaps they leaned on Bryce Young’s hopes in the draft. However, here is why the Panthers picked Tetairoa McMillan at No. 8 overall to shock the NFL world.
Some mock selections had the Panthers taking a defensive standout like Jalon Walker of Georgia. But when the Panthers got their turn, they quickly chose the top receiver in the draft, according to many NFL observers.
It turned out to be an off-speed pitch for Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, who apparently prefers fastballs.
“The Tetairoa McMillan pick was an early curveball that I, for one, didn’t really see coming,” Breer wrote. “The Carolina Panthers wanted to come away from draft weekend with another target for Bryce Young. What surprised me, given their defensive needs, was that it happened at No. 8.”
Panthers chose the offense of WR Tetairoa McMillan
Despite being surprised, Breer said the Panthers did OK with the selection.
“There are a few reasons why it came down like it did,” Breer wrote. “The big one, really, is how they viewed the first couple of picks as a composite. Carolina knew it wanted to come away with more pass rush and another receiver within the top 100 picks. How they’d get there was the question. And the more the Panthers dove into it, the more they saw that the drop-off at receiver was greater than the drop-off with rushers on Day 2.
“Had they gone defense at No. 8, Georgia hybrid Jalon Walker and Ole Miss 3-technique Walter Nolen were at the top of their list. But pairing one of those two with, say, Iowa State slot receiver Jaylin Noel didn’t measure up with McMillan and the edge guys available Friday. So they took McMillan, and traded up from No. 57 to 51 to land Texas A&M edge Nic Scourton in the second round.”
So what's the final analysis?
When things are added up, it looks pretty good for the Panthers. Scourton could have gone in the first round, so it’s like they got a pair of first-rounders with one of them being potentially a future NFL standout at receiver.
“Carolina got hot on the Arizona receiver late in the process,” Breer wrote. “On tape, they saw a guy who was rare in how smooth he was for a player at 6′ 4″, and a guy who almost always caught the ball with his hands, away from his frame — to the point where they had trouble finding a single example of him catching it with his body.”
Also, the Panthers grabbed edge rusher Princely Umanmielen (Ole Miss) in the third round. Also, they added running back Trevor Etienne (Georgia) in the fourth round. So they skilled up while also taking care of their edge rushers.
